Still, it wasn't until late afternoon did we see any plow whatsoever near Morse.
Grading the city service performance on Morse Avenue after all the snow had fallen. The Rogers Park Business Alliance bailed, and decided to stay home. I believe they owe the neighborhood an apology. No question about it. A big fat F.
Grading the businesses that opened and shoveled their storefront. (Big Hat-tip to Grill Inn) A+.
Grading 1340 West Morse. (Reside on Morse). They went above and beyond. Our whole alley is plowed, not just their lot. A+.
Grading the fun people had laughing at the stuck bus. A+
Overall, I'll give it a B.
10 comments:
GREAT PIC! It's been another source of amazement to me living up here (next to the overwhelming amounts of litter) - that businesses don't shovel and salt in front of their stores????? First of all, I thought it's the law but don't you want people to come in?
I can't laugh at the bus, but can only be grateful I'm not driving the thing and have to call the shops to get me unstuck.... or worse, having to write an accident report for a skidding accident.
But if there was ever a time I am glad to have trains and buses within easy reach, this is it. When the transit vehicle I'm riding has a problem, it's the transit agency's problem while merely an inconvenience for me; but when my car is stuck in the snow, it's my PROBLEM in spades.
Those morons stuck on LSD would all have been home safe and snug by 7PM if they'd taken METRA or CTA. Anyone who'd take a car downtown with the weather looking ominous as it did Tuesday morning, and with repeated predictions of blizzard- level snowstorms moving in that night, has to be insane.
craig, people were being asked to stay home, to not leave their houses if they didn't have to. so, should the rogers park business alliance owe you an apology for doing as they were told, or should that be the other way around.
For a Chicago area resident with about five decades of experience, I beg to differ. It took three to four hours max to clear LSD in 1999, not ten hours plus tow time. It never took this long in 1967.
It took one arguably reckless CDL licensed bus driver to totally mess things up! Driving too fast for conditions is an Illinois Traffic Code violation. It only takes one conviction to pull a CDL, folks.
I believe that CTA Negligence, perhaps recklessness, too often goes unpunished. I read the reports; I know it happens!
Did an investigation of the bus accident cause delay and congestion in blizzard conditions? Assuming no investigation, with mega-congestion, the equipment could not arrive soon enough.
Some were forced to wait ten hours on Lake Shore Drive even with prior knowledge of LSD traffic history. I can go into further detail over a few Three Floyds. I am willing to discuss it politely with someone willing to be candid. I will entertain and attempt to rebut explanations and excuses. Perhaps, I will hear the words, talk to our lawyers!
I have quite a few thoughts for improvement, but I am no traffic engineer. I had 10 hours to think about it!
I believe that barricades may have been removed to allow North bound traffic into the South bound lanes. Southbound lanes were almost completely clear of snow and most traffic. Am I mistaken about those thinner cement barricades? Perhaps, the City could have left some adjustable barricades in place in strategic locations, rather than over-beautifying.
Word; if you drive a CTA bus, and its snowing, don't over do it! Worry about the safety of your passengers and pedestrians. Oh yeah, and those cars that flank you.
I fear that 'some' CTA bus drivers are getting progressively insensitive with their driving skills and consideration. Yes, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly!
The Courts have 'not reasonably sanctioned' CTA bus drivers due to the fact that it takes one conviction for bus and truck drivers to lose their CDL License. How many have witnessed a CTA bus that looks as if it is driving 65 mph or more on LSD? Sometimes, I wonder if they are on LSD!
CTA bus drivers may have carte blanc to mess up and remain unsanctioned with CDL licenses in hand.
I have no clue what will happen to the Bus Driver. Does any think he or she deserves any mercy?
I believe that the act of that North bound CTA Bus driver last Tuesday demonstrated a callous disregard to everyone around him or her. The CTA driver deserves no Union sympathy, but that's my belief.
So when some blogging bus driver claims that car drivers were insane, we should fixate on that insane CTA Bus driver who could not care less and was careless in my position.
Driving to fast for conditions is negligence. Driving too fast for conditions in blizzard conditions is not only reckless, but totally insane, IMHO.
Oh yeah, those Motorists ignorantly left their cars in idle rapidly ran their cars out of gas. This seemed foolish, but no emergency warnings were given soon enough over the radio. Over a period of ten hours, we nursed three to four gallons of gas. We had enough heat. Tonight, we had enough gas to drive the car home from Soldier Field as a result.
To add to the mess, the same clowns abandoned their cars. No one controlled these folks. They could have easily hurt themselves due to exposure to the cold. It is likely that they were the first ones to get into rescue cars.
So, when I read the words of a bus driver trying to make excuses for his or her brothers and sisters in the union, well, I pause to reflect; business as usual? Will Chicago ever learn?
Don't pass the buck! Call it as it is! And that's my opinion!
Lafew, This bus driver who caused the Morse Avenue Closure should be suspended, without pay, and subject to spending two hours with Hugh.
Thanks, Craig. Now that your blog has been reduced to pictures of buses, it's a good idea.
When are you shutting it down for good and going to work full time for Joe?
Lafew put it better than most.
I totally agree with your sentiments.
At worst the bus should just pull over and let everyone go past if he/she cant handle it. Totally asinine to swerve out like that.
This had nothing to do with Joe and everything to do with how Chicago handled the mess. Most of us know that Joe has been ridiculed by Richard. However, one thing that this Daley did that Emmanuel may never do is admit that things could have been handled better, perhaps much better. Kudus for that comment; things may actually improve.
Again, from my vantage point, being on Lake Shore was like sitting in front of a nightclub and not being let in for all the wrong reasons. The Southbound lanes were wetting our appetites as emergency trucks whizzed by. I felt like the City spent more to keep some of the traffic dividers up then it will end up paying for the overtime to tow.
At least Daley has the guts to take some responsibility for his belligerent Staffers. If I see more feigned pride in failure, Rahm should get Bilandick-ed, not LaBolted. It is amazing what $6 million or more of PR hype can do for a candidate or standing mayor. In some situations the DNC should use DNR. Chicago is getting plowed over by Emmanuel media hype.
I can just imagine the Clinton-esque lines now. I did not have. . . This comes from someone who supports Moore, as well, at this point.
Since I did not actually see what caused the CTA accident on LSD, and can't find any reports that detail the specifics of it, I wouldn't call for discipline of the driver just because CTA drivers are sometimes at fault in these.
How did it happpen? WHAT happened, exacty? Did the bus merely get stuck in the snow, or skid, without hitting anything? Did CTA control order the driver to stay on the LSD route, or was the driver off route without authorization?
As one who drove commercially for a number of years after I left art school, I can tell you that city transit drivers do NOT get off without discipline after a chargeable accident, and that the standard for "chargeable" accident is NOT whether or not you caused it, but could you have prevented it even if someone else caused it?
If CTA control ordered the driver to take the bus onto the drive in the heavy snow, then I would not necessarily charge the driver unless there was a collision, and that would depend upon the cause of the accident. If s/he was off route without authorization, the driver will surely be looking at 30 days suspension without pay.
I promise you that CTA discipline is extremely harsh, and that when something bad happens on your run, the agency will find SOMETHING you did that caused it, or contributed to it, and mete out discipline accordingly.
lets try to keep all comments to at least one paragraph. we are not writing novels here
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